Meta

Category: Niantic

Niantic surely has a full plate on their hands as gamers eagerly await each and every new addition to the game. Niantic has been developing their augmented reality game, Pokemon Go, for the better part of a year and a half and they are showing no signs of slowing down — despite taking on another huge title, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Fans of Pokemon Go got to get their hands on a variety of Legendary Pokemon this year, including all of the legendary dogs and legendary birds, and now Niantic is bringing out another fan-favorite: Groudon.

Ho-Oh was the most recent legendary Pokemon to be released through the raid-system but that is now no longer the case. Groudon is the first Legendary Pokemon to be added to the game from Gen 3 and you’ll need one heck of a team in order to capture him. All legendaries are only available as Raid Battles at your nearby gyms. In order to get your hands on a Groudon, you have to be in the right place at the right time and with the right partners. Right now, it is announced that Groudon will be available until January 15th, 2018. You have to be looking at gyms at 1PM PT in order to get the chance to battle him.

While Groudon is making the headlines as the newest legendary Pokemon, he is far from the only new addition to the game. The developers at Niantic have been busy trying to put together some more immersion improving systems into their title. Most recently, Niantic released a dynamic weather system that allows trainers to capture Pokemon based on the weather in their particular part of the world. The weather system should have a huge impact on how trainers battle, train, and capture their Pokemon. Certain weather elements will bring out certain Pokemon while others might get a type-advantage during battles.

With so much activity going on to bring 2017 to a close, we can only imagine that Niantic has many more ideas to come. Time to go capturing, trainers!

If you were like us, then you spent the summer of 2016 outside with your eyes locked on your phone as you captured as many Pokemon as possible in Pokemon Go. Developed by Niantic, Pokemon Go became a resounding success and a true game-changer for the mobile market. Augmented reality has begun to showcase itself as a viable platform for major IPs to take their product on the road. Now, it looks like Harry Potter is getting its own Pokemon Go styled augmented reality experience, and the investment money is truly rolling in.

Niantic Labs announced their new Harry Potter augmented reality title just over a week ago and since then the title has been gaining massive attention from investors everywhere. Through the Wall Street Journal, it was announced that Harry Potter: Wizards Unite had already found nearly $200 million in Series B venture capital funding. Niantic will be utilizing this money in order to further the world of augmented reality. Fans of Pokemon Go and Harry Potter should be ecstatic that Niantic isn’t willfully sticking to their wheelhouse. Instead, it appears that the company is intent on pushing technology forward in order to change the platform forever.

Niantic Labs used to be owned by Google but now the company is standing alone and rising as a result. Niantic Labs saw several major investors come to the table during their Series B investing, including Spark Capital, Meritech, and Javelin Venture Capital. With more companies working alongside Niantic Labs, it appears that Niantic CEO John Hanke has more in mind than just launching another piece of IP. Niantic Labs has a very real chance to fundamentally change the world of mobile gaming forever, and if they are successful then this could mean that there will be a complete proprietary change to the way we use our phones. We’re rooting for Niantic to bring some magic out with Wizards Unite. The question begs to be asked, will they succeed or enter a sophomore slump?